Health before the NHS: The Road to Recovery

Episode Info

Robert Winston narrates the shocking story of health in Britain before the National Health Service. In the early 20th century, getting treated if you were ill was a rudimentary, risky and costly business - a luxury few could afford. Using rare archive footage and personal testimony, the programme tells how ordinary people, GPs, midwives and local councils coped with a chaotic and ramshackle system as they struggled to deal with sickness and disease in the homes and communities of pre-World War Two Britain.